AFC Wimbledon v Crewe Alex 24/25 Preview - 14 days

I'm not going back to do the research, but I wonder if the Alex have ever played a side in the league twice in 14 days? I'm not talking play-offs, or a league and cup combination. I mean the regular league season. It can't have happened many times before, if ever. I doubt either side will need to do much scouting, given just 2 games have passed since they last played each other. Here is my preview of the Alex's midweek trip to the capital:

Yikes

Oh boy. Things are looking grim. Really grim. Where do the management and whatever ramshackle team they're able to name go from here, in a long midweek game against a Wimbledon side that are in decent form at home and who are looking to push for the top 3? They could be on for another hammering, which would dent what little confidence they have left. If they can keep the score down in this one to anything less than 3, I'll take it to be honest.

Ugly

I hope you aren't expecting anything from the Alex in this game. We know full well what Bell will do and to be honest, I can't even blame him. He's going to go and fully focus on defensive stability. How he does that with the absences he has, I don't know. But we will see very little football, barely any attacks and a team that is coming for a 0-0 and not a lot else.

Written Off

The only small ray of hope I'm taking from this one is that the Alex often thrive when they are written off. Nobody expects them to get anything from this game, myself included. They are expected to lose and lose comfortably. So, wouldn't it be typical of this side, as depleted as it is, to find the most unlikely of results? We've seen them do it before, when a front 2 of Holicek and Tracey got them a 1-1 draw at Doncaster. Could they do it again?

Toothless

The only other crumb of comfort I'm taking from this game is that Wimbledon do suffer from a lack of goals in their team, much like the Alex do. They've scored just twice in their last 4 games and have scored 10 in their last 9 home games. So maybe the Alex snatching a 0-0 or even, by some miracle, a 1-0 away win, isn't so far fetched after all.

Ref Watch

Andrew Humphries

A rookie. Again. Goodie. This will be Humphries 5th ever EFL tie, which doesn't give me much confidence he'll handle what could be a challenging match up. I hope I'm wrong.

2024/25 Record: 14 games(4 League Two, 10 National League), 47 yellows, 2 reds

Last Game: Chesterfield 1-1 Port Vale, 25th January 2025, EFL League Two, 4 yellows, 1 red

Crewe Alex Record: N/A

Injuries/Absences

AFC Wimbledon

There will be a couple of absences from the Dons squad, with Callum Maycock, James Ball and Sam Hutchinson likely out. But on the whole, their main men are all fit.

Crewe Alex

Lol. *big intake of breath* The Alex will likely be without Mickey Demetriou, Charlie Finney, Chris Long, Omar Bogle, Kane Hemmings, Jack Lankester, Conor Thomas and Nathan Robinson, plus it sounds like Owen Lunt has picked up an injury on loan at Southport. Marvellous. Just the 9 players missing from a squad of 29. No biggie.

Team

Can we just skip this section? I mean, what can you even do at this point? I suppose the players pick themselves as they are the only ones who are fit. I think Lowery will come into midfield after his 2 impressive cameos off the bench and I can see Sanders being the scapegoat to make way. I think we'll see the same back 5 that started on Saturday, with Tabiner dropped back into midfield alongside Powell and Lowery. Holicek I think will start alongside Tracey in a more orthodox front 2.

The bench though will be very funny. They had 6 on Saturday and that was before Charlie Finney's injury. Do they even bother naming a couple of youngsters at this point?

Score Prediction

As easy and simple a home win. There is just no path I see towards a favourable result. I hope to be proven wrong, but I can't see it. If Wimbledon score first, it's 100% game over. If the Alex can somehow fluke a goal, then they might have a chance. That's a big if at this stage.

AFC Wimbledon 3-0 Crewe Alex